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July 23, 2014

The launch of the project last year was a roaring success and Hostelling International (HI) are back on the lookout for 16 passionate, adventurous bloggers from across the globe to take part. 23 July marks the beginning of the competition, and a new chance for bloggers and readers to get involved.

When the project first ran last year, it had never been done before, and HI was overwhelmed by the positive response it received. HI sent 16 excited bloggers from all corners of the globe on an adventure, swapping countries, cultures and blogs with each other for 10 days, all the while sharing their experiences with the rest of the blogging community following their journey digitally.

The competition saw all sorts of bloggers from 72 different countries, a total of 1173 of them, compete to win the opportunity of a lifetime. It gave 16 bloggers a chance to step out of their comfort zone and experience incredible things and this year it’s happening all over again!

This popular project received global recognition with three prestigious travel industry awards, including one from the UNWTO for Excellence and Innovation in Tourism.

With cultural understanding being at the heart of this project, we were pleased to hear what Camie, a Filipino winner from last year’s BBE, had to say about her exchange. “This unique journey in Germany gave light and opened my eyes to so many things.” She went on to say “I believe the Big Blog Exchange project not only helped me open my eyes, but helped open the eyes of those that followed my journey as well.”

Bloggers can register into the competition from the 23 July on www.bigblogexchange.org, and the lucky winners will be announced on the 16 September. Bloggers scattered all around the world are busy preparing their writing, getting excited and joining the conversation on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram using the tag #BIGBLOGX. Last year’s winners had the time of their lives, now it’s somebody else’s turn to do the same! We need your help to keep on changing the world using the power of blogs.

About Hostelling International (HI)

• Hostelling International is a non-governmental, not-for profit organisation representing 69
Member Associations and 4 Associate Organisations all over the world.
• Works closely with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and cultural Organisation
(UNESCO) and the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO).
• Around 3,500 hostels within 85 countries
• 37 million overnights per year
• 500 million GBP estimated annual revenue within the HI network
• Four million members, HI is one of the world’s largest youth membership organisations and
is the only global network of Youth Hostel Associations.